CPJ joins call to oppose draft surveillance law in France

The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined 30 other press freedom and digital rights groups in calling on the French government to reject a draft law on surveillance. The open letter, submitted yesterday to members of parliament, warns against giving authorities greater powers to spy on communications.

The scope of the surveillance proposed in the bill could put journalists at risk by collecting and storing their conversations with sources, and would put the country at odds with international legal norms. The "collect it all" approach that is being suggested is similar to the methods used by the U.S.'s National Security Agency. The National Assembly passed the bill today and it will now go to the Senate for debate, according to The Associated Press.

Organizations including human rights groups Privacy International, Article 19, and Pen International, and digital rights groups the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access, European Digital Rights, the Center for Democracy & Technology, and the World Wide Web Foundation, are among the signatories.

San Francisco-based CPJ Technology Program Coordinator Geoffrey King works to protect the digital rights of journalists worldwide. A constitutional lawyer by training, King also teaches courses on digital privacy law, as well as the intersection of media and social change, both at UC Berkeley. Follow him on Twitter at @CPJTechnology. His public key fingerprint is 4749 357C E686 71B1 4C60 F149 9338 5A57 27FA 494C.

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